1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computing and computing applications and, more particularly, to a content, traffic and advertising engine, system and method.
2. Description of the Background
The Internet is a global network connecting millions of computers and linking users in more than 100 countries into exchanges of data, news and opinions. Unlike online services, which are centrally controlled, the Internet is decentralized. Each Internet enabled computer is independent, such that its' user can choose which Internet services to use and which local services to make available to the global Internet community. There are many types of content available via the Internet, including textual content, graphical content, audio content and video content. The amount of content available via the Internet is virtually unlimited.
User generated content, such as “podcasting,” is a rapidly growing new media format, particularly in the Internet space. Historically, such new media formats had difficulty finding success, in part because the content in such formats typically appeals to one or more “niche” markets, rather than the mass media market as a whole, and further in part because there has typically been a lack of financial support to incentivize platforms to carry such new media formatted content Recently, some platforms have begun to remedy this problem, in part by providing “one stop shopping,” wherein a user can visit the platform and know that the platform will be able to provide some user-generated content of interest to that visiting user. Such platforms include YouTube and Funny or Die.
However, even these successful platforms provide little other than a place to find user-generated content. For example, such platforms do not efficiently direct or monitor traffic. Additionally, such platforms/sites tend to place advertisements on content pages that are relevant for the typical user of the site, or merely relevant to a cookie, or the like, of the then-subject user. As such, present successful platforms do not optimize traffic or advertising with respect to the content provided, nor to the platforms optimize the junction of content, traffic and advertising.
Thus, the need exists for an engine, system and method that optimizes traffic and advertising with respect to providing content, including user generated content, and that optimizes the junction of content, traffic and advertising.